TOMMY LEE

By Phil Tooley

This article first appeared in the matchday programme for the Bury home game on 16th August 2008.

Born in Keighley, West Yorkshire, on 3^rd January 1986, keeper Tommy Lee made his first appearance in a Chesterfield shirt as a triallist in the impressive 1-0 pre-season win over neighbours Sheffield Wednesday.

That performance won him plenty of instant fans and, more importantly for him, a year's contract at Saltergate.

Tommy had a couple of heart stopping moments in his next two appearances. He 'lost' a cross in the sun in the final pre-season match of the summer at Burton Albion and he dived fruitlessly as Ashley Carew's 60 yard free kick caught in the wind to sail over his desperate dive at Barnet last week. Fortunately we came back to win both games.

Indeed at Underhill, a trio of great one handed stops late on ensured we began our league season with a win as Tommy did more than enough ton erase memories of his misjudgement.

Last season Tommy was at Macclesfield Town though he ended the campaign on loan at Rochdale, for whom he played at Wembley in the play-off final, but his first pro team was as big as they come, Manchester United, so how did he end up at Old Trafford?

"I was playing with Bradford boys, my local town team, and I got spotted and went for a trial when I was 12 and I stayed there until I was 20."

And there's no doubt that, right from the outset, the number one shirt was all he ever wanted; "I was always a goalkeeper from day one, my Dad was a goalkeeper for local sides around West Yorkshire. He was at Bradford City as a young lad then he went to Preston North End but it didn't quite work out, but I suppose it must be in the blood really."

There's one very familiar face for Tommy at Saltergate; "I was with Phil Picken from the age of 12 at Manchester United," whilst other familiar names he played alongside as a youngster were; "Chris Eagles, who's just gone to Burnley was in my team plus Kieran Richardson who's at Sunderland and David Jones who's just moved from Derby to Wolves, so there were quite a few lads who've done well."

Whilst at United, the reserves side won four competitions in one season, not as great a memory as you'd think for Tom; "It was a good season but unfortunately I was injured for most of that season! Phil Picken played a big part though."

In February 2006, he got a call to move down to Cheshire in loan; "Alan Fettis got injured, a groin injury I think, and Brian Horton, who was manager at Macclesfield Town, used to watch a few United reserves games asked for my services and I went down there and played 12 games on loan which was a great experience at the time being just 19 when I went."

His league debut was in a 1-1 draw against Oxford United and, like in his Spireites debut, he conceded a goal that he'll want to forget; "I remember that they scored straight from a corner, it was a windy day and it hit the bar and went in. Apart from that it was a decent game and I played quite well so the gaffer was happy and he played me in the next few games."

The loan was soon made permanent; "I was Brian's first signing of the summer but it didn't quite work out for him there and he went fairly soon in my first season. My intention was to go there and play some games, and I achieved that."

One of his team mates at Macc was Chesterfield born and ex Spireites player Colin Heath; "Colin's one of my good friends in football, I'm still in touch with him. He's had a few trials this summer, he's been finding it tough but is hoping to find a club."

The Silkmen started badly, very badly, Horton was dismissed and rookie boss Paul Ince came in, but took a while to get his charges going; "In the season when Brian got the sack we had 12 points at Christmas and we were clear bookies favourites to go down, Paul Ince came in and over Christmas we won six on the bounce and that was the springboard to stay up."

As the positive results began to come in, Macclesfield earned a third round FA Cup tie at Champions Chelsea, a game remembered well by Lee; "It was my FA Cup debut, the first half went quite well, 2-1 down having equalised at one stage, but two minutes into the second half I got sent off for an innocuous challenge on Andrei Shevchenko. I suppose by the letter of the law it was a sending off. The game was over then and they went on to win 6-1. Mind you, if you are going to get sent off in your career, you may as well do it in front of forty-odd thousand having brought down one of the World's most expensive players."

"When John Murphy equalised it was great, during the early part of the game we created a couple of chances so the equaliser wasn't a massive surprise but the Macclesfield fans went wild and it was nice to get back on level terms with the reigning English Champions."

He picked up a minor injury en route; "Just before half-time I came out for a ball and got clattered by Salomon Kalou, I trapped a nerve in my elbow which made it go numb for a while but I recovered."

In the summer after the great escape, Ince moved on to MK Dons and Ian Brightwell took on the manager's role; "I played the first 20 games under Brightwell, then against Notts County I broke my hand at Meadow Lane and I missed the next few games. I had to have an operation, then Brightwell got the sack and Keith Alexander came in and his intentions were clear, he only plays one keeper in the squad, none on the bench, so I was basically surplus to requirements."

"My last game for Macclesfield was as a sub. Jonny Brain got injured just before half time at Lincoln, we lost 3-1, the manager was then sacked and Keith Alexander came in. A month later I was on loan at Rochdale."

His debut at Dale saw a loss at Notts County but after that the side went on a ten game unbeaten run; "It was good at Richdale. Before the first game at Notts I got the call on Friday night and ended up playing on the Saturday, it was a tough game and after it I thought 'here we go' but from then the lads were a different class, ten unbeaten and into the play offs safely with a few games left."

Darlington in the play-offs and on each occasion, the home side won their game 2-1, so penalties were the order of the day; "We fell two behind on aggregate in the second leg after they scored a penalty but we equalised with only a few minutes to go, it was a stalemate in extra time and then we had a penalty shoot out. The penalties were all quality ones but I managed to get my leg to their fourth from Jason Kennedy and then we had to score to win and Ben Muirhead did just that and the rest was history."

How was it at Wembley? "It was good, the result didn't go our way but in terms of experience as a young goalkeeper it was a different class. All the Rochdale lads were disappointed on the day but I'm sure, like me, they look back and feel they're stronger for the experience. They're a good young side and the manager Keith Hill has improved the squad with the signings he's made this summer. I hope they'll be up their challenging for honours along with Chesterfield."

On to Saltergate and more first team duty, all grist to the mill; "It's been good. It was a tough pre-season with not being settled anywhere, moving from club to club, going on trial, so it's finally nice to get settled somewhere and know that I'm with a good set of lads, it helps knowing Phil and Paul Harsley, who was at Macclesfield when I was there which has made my settling in period quite short."

There's no doubt at all, Tommy's already made his mark here and will become a great part of the squad.

PHIL TOOLEY